Naples Prosecutor's Office: "No lawyers were wiretapped or followed."

Naples—No investigative activity is being conducted against the defense attorneys, but only targeted checks are being conducted on prosecution witnesses in a proceeding described as "particularly sensitive." This is what the Naples Prosecutor's Office clarified in a statement signed by Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, released following the investigations into wiretaps and surveillance activities conducted near the courthouse.

According to what was explained by the Prosecutor's Office, the wiretaps - authorised by the preliminary investigations judge - were requested on the basis of "consistent evidence" according to which some witnesses could be induced to retract statements made during the investigations or to provide untrue versions during the trial.

“Activity limited to prosecution witnesses”

In the statement, the judicial office specifies that the wiretapping activities "were aimed exclusively at certain prosecution witnesses," many of whom later changed statements they had previously given to investigators in court.

Some of the activities would have taken place outside the courtroom and in areas reserved for the public, with the aim of verifying any contacts between witnesses and third parties who could have exerted pressure or influenced their depositions.

The Prosecutor's Office also emphasizes that no conversation relating to the defense mandate was reported in the investigative documents and that the presence of lawyers in the photographs attached to the Carabinieri report was "merely descriptive" and unavoidable, given that the images were collected in areas of the Courthouse frequented by multiple individuals.

The climate of fear and the hypotheses of false testimony

The note also highlights the highly tense context in which the trial unfolded, linked to an environment described as "Camorra-like." Wiretaps documented the fear expressed by some witnesses, to the point that they considered not appearing in court.

Investigators also discovered that some witnesses already knew the date of their appearance before the Assize Court before the official notification by the judicial police.

Among the elements cited by the Prosecutor's Office is a conversation intercepted outside the courtroom, which revealed that a person was telling a witness what to say to the Court.
According to the judicial office, these investigative activities would have proven "extremely useful" in verifying the authenticity of the testimonies given in the trial and in ascertaining any episodes of intimidation or conditioning.

The call for “due process”

The Prosecutor's Office also recalls that the Assize Court ordered the transmission to the Prosecutor's Office of the minutes of a hearing held on April 15, 2026, to assess possible allegations of perjury.

In the closing paragraph of the statement, the office led by Gratteri reiterates that the investigative activities were aimed at ensuring procedural fairness and protecting witnesses in a highly criminal context.

Finally, the Prosecutor's Office recalls the principles of due process and adversarial proceedings in the formation of evidence, hoping for "a continuous and fruitful dialogue" with the Neapolitan legal profession in the interest of the proper functioning of justice.